The Oxford Handbook of Political Methodology

Description

Political methodology has changed dramatically over the past thirty years, and many new methods and techniques have been developed. Both the Political Methodology Society and the Qualitative/Multi-Methods Section of the American Political Science Association have engaged in ongoing research and training programs that have advanced quantitative and qualitative methodology. The Oxford Handbook of Political Methodology presents and synthesizes these developments.

The Handbook provides comprehensive overviews of diverse methodological approaches, with an emphasis on three major themes. First, specific methodological tools should be at the service of improved conceptualization, comprehension of meaning, measurement, and data collection. They should increase
analysts' leverage in reasoning about causal relationships and evaluating them empirically by contributing to powerful research designs. Second, the authors explore the many different ways of addressing these tasks: through case-studies and large-n designs, with both quantitative and qualitative data, and via techniques ranging from statistical modelling to process tracing. Finally, techniques can cut across traditional methodological boundaries and can be useful for many different kinds of researchers. Many of the authors thus explore how their methods can inform, and be used by, scholars engaged in diverse branches of methodology.

The Oxford Handbook of Political Methodology

Author Information

Janet M. Box-Steffensmeier is the Vernal Riffe Professor of Political Science, Director of the Program in Statistics and Methodology, and courtesy faculty of Sociology at the Ohio State University. She holds a B.A. in mathematics and political science from Coe College and a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Texas at Austin.

Henry E. Brady is Professor of Political Science and Public Policy at University of California, Berkeley. He received his Ph.D. in Economics and Political Science from MIT, and his areas of interest include Quantitative Methodology, American and Canadian Politics, and Political Behavior. He teaches undergraduate courses on political participation and party systems and graduate courses on advanced quantitative methodology.

David Collier is Professor of Political Science at University of California, Berkeley and former President of the American Political Science Association. His fields are comparative politics, Latin American politics, and methodology. His latest book is Rethinking Social Inquiry: Diverse Tools, Shared Standards, of which he is co-editor and co-author with Henry E. Brady.

Contributors:

John Gerring, Boston University James Johnson, University of Rochestser Gary Goertz, University of Arizona Keith T. Poole, University of California, San Diego Simon Jackman, Stanford University David Freeman, University of California, Berkeley Jasjeet Sekhon, University of California, Berkeley John E. Jackson, University of Michigan Andrew D. Martin, Washington University in St Louis Nathaniel Beck, New York University Robert Franzese, University of Michigan Jude Hayes, University of Illinois, UrbanaBradford Stephen Jones, University of ArizonaMichael Alvarez, California Institute of Technology Wendy K. Cho, Northwestern University, Urbana Charles Manski, Northwestern
University, Evanston Richard Johnston, University of British Columbia Jonathan Golub, University of ReadingJon Pevehouse, University of Wisconsin Bernhard Kittel, University of AmsterdamAndrew Bennett, Georgetown University James Mahoney, Brown UniversityCharles Ragin, University of Arizona Brian Rathburn, McGill UniversityKenneth Bollen, University of North Carolina Sophia Rabe-Hesketh, University of California, Berkeley John Aldrich, Duke University James E. Alt, Harvard University Arthur Lupia, University of Michigan Peter Hedstrom, Nuffield College, University of Oxford Scott E. Page, University of Michigan Becky Morton, New York University Kenneth Williams, Michigan State University
Donald Green, Yale University Alan Gerber, Yale University Colin Elman, Arizona State University Charles Franklin, University of Wisconsin Michael Lewis-Beck, University of Iowa David Laitin, Stanford University Michael Coppedge, University of Notre Dame

The Oxford Handbook of Political Methodology

Reviews and Awards

"This Handbook contains an extraordinary collection of magisterial articles by many of the best methodological minds in political science...The range is broad and substantive, with quantitative, qualitative, formal-theoretic, historical, and mixed methods discussed in relation to all the empirical subfields of the discipline. Every sect will find something to its taste, and those who celebrate the methodological diversity of the profession will have a feast. The articles are written to be accessible, and graduate students will find no better place to begin developing their own methodological judgment. This book is a splendid achievement."--Christopher H. Achen, Roger Williams Straus Professor of Social Sciences, Princeton University

"This extraordinary series offers 'state of the art' assessments that instruct, engage, and provoke. No one who is immersed in the discipline's controversies and possibilities should miss the intellectual stimulation and critical appraisal these works so powerfully provide."--Ira Katznelson, Ruggles Professor of Political Science and History, Columbia University

"This blockbuster set is a must-have for scholars and students alike. Each volume is crafted by a distinguished set of editors who have assembled critical, comprehensive, essays. These volumes will help to shape the discipline for many years to come."--Theda Skocpol, Victor S. Thomas Professor of Government and Sociology, Harvard University